The Problem With The Clinton Campaign

For a while now, I've been trying to figure out what it is about the Clinton campaign that has turned me off from the beginning. It has nothing to do with my support for Obama. I know that because I was turned off by her campaign well before I became emotionally invested in Obama's candidacy. And it doesn't stem from any lingering personal animosity toward the Clintons. Quite the contrary. My pre-campaign opinion of both the Clintons was very positive. I've always believed that both Hillary and Bill Clinton are highly intelligent, competent people whose hearts are generally in the right place and whose policy instincts are pretty good. And my pre-campaign instinct, if anything, was to jump to their defense when they came under attack. After all, I don't know of any two people in history who have had to endure more slander, character assassination, and unfair media coverage than the Clintons.

But this week I finally put my finger on what's been bothering me. The problem with the Clintons is that they've learned the wrong lessons from their years of abuse at the hands of the right wing smear machine. They've come to adopt the tactics of their enemies. What's been turning me off about Hillary's campaign is that it has been run exactly like a Republican general election campaign.

It's paint by the numbers. With every event, you know exactly how her campaign is going to respond. You know exactly how her opponent's words are going to be twisted and taken out of context. You know exactly what the surrogates are going to say and what the buzz words in the next campaign commercial will be. There's no mystery at all, no reservations or doubts. Just a ruthless utilitarian calculus that prioritizes victory over all else.

When Barack Obama's clumsy comments about small town America surfaced, all I had to do was close my eyes, and I could see what the next Clinton campaign ad would like like. And lo and behold, here it is, exactly how I imagined it:

It's exactly like a Republican attack ad. It's small-minded. It's dishonest. It's cynical. And the deeply ironic part is that nothing a candidate could do or say could possibly be more elitist and condescending than putting their name on this advertisement. This ad was clearly put together by cynical political operatives who think that voters are rubes.

When I see Clinton on television mouthing talking points that I know she doesn't really believe or I see her surrogates and operatives look into the camera and tell me with a straight face that that up is really down, I cringe. It's a Republican campaign being run in a Democratic primary. They've clearly decided that this is the only way politics can be played, and that's extraordinarily depressing.

I don't mean to suggest that Obama's campaign or the candidate himself are somehow above the political fray, or that they don't from time to time resort to some pretty furious spinning or some obviously disingenuous talking points. They do. But, for better or worse, the Obama campaign clearly doesn't follow the same playbook. Obama has, at crucial points in his campaign, decided to eschew easily digestible talking points and talk to voters like they're adults. He's refused to boil away the complexity of issues that are inherently complex. And perhaps most notably, when Obama reacts to the latest events or the latest twists and turns in the campaign, you genuinely don't know what he's going to say. His speeches, commercials, and talking point aren't predictable scripts spit out by the Polititron 3000 Computer.

At this point in the campaign, Hillary's individuality has been subsumed completely by the script. She simply says whatever the "right" answer is. You can hear it in her voice when she's voicing the latest attack on Obama's character. There's nothing there. She's just mouthing the talking points that the campaign's leaders have deemed necessary for the occasion (Obama is an elitist snob, I like hunting and beer, etc.). It's sad.

Regardless of what happens, I don't want that kind of soulless, lowest-common-denominator style of campaign to become the norm in the Democratic party. It's bad enough that one of the major parties consistently treats the American public like a bunch of ignorant children. I'd rather not have both parties stoop that kind of manipulative cynicism. Clinton needs to lose if for no other reason than to discourage this sort of campaigning.